Week 6 Story: Sinbad

The story that I shall be retelling is about Sinbad’s first voyage.

The Beginning

A long time ago there lived a young boy named Sinbad. You might be thinking to yourself is this the same Sinbad that we know of who is a pirate? The answer is, yes, it is.  Now you see, Sinbad did not grow up with many hardships that we are led to believe and in fact, his mother and father were actually quite wealthy. He was given everything he was ever wanted, became proficient at using a sword and a flintlock, and was taught schooling at home. Even though of his status when he was younger, Sinbad was known all around for getting into trouble.  He would get caught stealing or he would cut fish free from nets to allow them to live long lives, which angered the fishermen.  One tragic day, Sinbad’s parents were killed while riding through the countryside on horses. This left him devastated and for a while he would not leave his parents’ house. Eventually, Sinbad got out of his funk and decided to spend the money that his parents had left him.  He thought to himself, “I am never going to run out of money!” Unfortunately, this was not the case because if 7 years’ time, he had in fact, run out of money. 

Becoming a Pirate

After he had run out of money Sinbad signed onto what he thought was a shipping vessel called the Aurora. For a while, while they were out at sea, Sinbad and the crew went through the daily motions of trying to catch fish and catch the wind to sail farther into the ocean. One day though, they came upon a trader vessel that was stuck in a reef.  As soon as everyone came onto the deck to see the vessel all of a sudden, all hell broke loose.  The captain yelled at everyone to grab their swords and flintlocks and to get ready to board. Sinbad at first was confused because he had no idea what was going on and went to talk to the captain as they sailed closer to the merchant vessel. As the captain explained to him what they were about to and who they actually were, Sinbad got excited and felt a rush of adrenaline. He thought to himself, “Man, I haven’t felt this good since I set those fish free or store the steak from that cook.”  Sinbad went to join the others as they all got prepared to board and plunder the ship.  Once they reached the ship, they all threw grappling hooks onto the ship so that way they had an easier time to get across. Once they boarded, they were met with very little resistance although there was some security that needed to be handled.  Sinbad was the first one to start sword fighting with the security and every time their swords clashed, he made a quip. The other pirates soon noticed his skill at using a sword and everyone stopped to stare at him.  After Sinbad had gotten the security guards to surrender, they all began to plunder the ship.  After they had taken mostly everything from the ship, Sinbad made sure that the captives they were leaving still had enough food and water to last them until they reached port. Now the captain took note on how great Sinbad had done on his first raid and decided to make him his second in command even though he had only been on the ship for a few weeks.  As the weeks went by Sinbad became a better pirate and helped secure himself and his crew more treasure than they would ever need. Eventually, the captain of Sinbad’s ship retired and handed the reigns over to Sinbad.  As the months would go on Sinbad would become well known throughout the islands for his decency and his swordsmanship.  He was so legendary that people often hoped they would get robbed on sea just so they could get a glimpse of this great pirate they all had heard about.

Sinbad at Sea with his treasure. (1914)

Milo Winter. Source: Wikipedia

Authors Note:  I changed up Sinbad’s first voyage a lot.  I wanted to focus on his early childhood life and his first actual pirate raid.  I feel that by focusing on those two parts it allows us to draw our own conclusions about what happens on his next voyages. Also, I wanted to make it seem like the pirates were not just ruthless cutthroats like we all hear about.  They should be given a softer side but still intimidating and I am hoping I accomplished that. I also didn't include the part of about him being shipwrecked by a whale because I did not think that was a big part of the story that needed to be included.

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. Sinbad: First Voyage. Sinbad: First Voyage